Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 12

Author:
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Boston, Graves & Steinbarger
Number of Pages: 924

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In the male line the descent of Captain Thaddeus Coffin from Tristram is traced as follows: James, son of Tristram and Dionis (Stevens) Coffin, married Mary Severance. Their son Jonathan married Hepzibah Harper; and Henry, son of Jonathan Coffin, married Mary Woodbury, and was the father of Thad- deus, who married Ann Parker and was the maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Captain Coffin's mother, Mary Wood- bury, great-grandmother of Judge Defricz, was a daughter of Nathaniel and Abigail (Coffin) Woodbury. Abigail Coffin was a daughter of

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Jethro Coffin, who was a son of l'eter Coffin, who was a son of Tristram, the emigrant.

Mrs. Elizabeth Coffin Defriez died April 27, 1829, at the early age of thirty years, leaving four children - Henry Coffin, Thad- deus Coffin, William Coffin, and George Washington Defriez.

Thaddeus Coffin Defriez received his ele- mentary education under private instructors and in the public schools, and at the Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin Lancasterian School in Nan- tucket. He well remembers a visit made by the Admiral to the school, on which occasion all the scholars passed in review, and were granted the privilege of shaking hands with him. In 1838, after his school days were over, he went on his first whaling voyage. Continuing to follow that vocation, he became master at the age of thirty of the ship "Richard Mitehell." of Nantucket, and later of the bark "Sacramento," of Westport. In 1863 he retired from the sea, and immediately became connected with home interests. Ap- pointed Register of Probate and Insolveney by Governor Bullock in the fall of 1868 to fill a vacancy, he served about one year. Later he was appointed Collector of Customs of the port of Nantucket, which position he held until 1873, when he resigned it in order to accept, by appointment of Governor Wash- burn, that of Judge of Probate and Insolvency, which he has held up to the present time, a period of twenty-six years. For many years Judge Defriez has been one of the trustees of the parish of the Second Congre- gational Meeting House ( Unitarian ). For ten years he has served as president of the Board of Trustees of the Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin's Lancasterian School: and he is also president of the Nantucket Athenaeum, hav- ing previously served as one of its trustees. Ile was for a number of years one of the trustees of the Nantucket Institution for Savings, and was for quite a period its presi- dent, a position which, however, he resigned in 1895, in order to lessen his multiplicity of cares. He has been a Republican since the formation of that party, and east his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln at his second election.

Judge Defriez was first married on Septem- ber 27, 1852, to Elizabeth Peabody, of Bos- ton, daughter of Luther and Elizabeth l'ea- body. She died April 26, 1872, leaving one son, William Peabody, who was born in Dor- chester, Mass., June 18, 1858. William P. Defriez is a graduate of the medical depart- ment of Boston University, and is now prac- tising his profession in Brookline, Mass. He married Sarah Barron, of Woburn, Mass., and has one son, Thaddeus Coffin, second. Judge Defriez married for his second wife on Febru- ary 10, 1872, Mrs. Eliza S. Dillingham, of Edgartown, Mass.

APTAIN FREDERIC WALSTON SNOW, of Wellfleet. Barnstable County, master of the schooner "Pleiades," was born in Wellfleet. November 4, 1837, son of Ambrose and Polly C. (Swett) Snow. He thus traces his descent in the male line from Nicholas Snow, who came over in the "Ann" in 1623, and who married Constance (or Constanta), daughter of Stephen Hopkins, of the "Mayflower" com- pany : Nicholas, ' John, ? John, 3 David, + David, 5 Ambrose,' Ambrose, 7 Frederic. $

Ambrose Snow, first, Captain Snow's grand- father, followed the sea as a master mariner for a number of years, and at one time ran a packet between Truro and Boston. After abandoning the sea he divided his time be- tween farming and working at the shoemaker's bench. Ambrose Snow, second, Captain Snow's father, led a scafaring life for fifty years, a greater portion of the time as a master mariner; and for twenty-seven years he was engaged exclusively in carrying oysters from Virginia to Boston. He married Polly C., daughter of Joseph and Bethiah Sweet, of Truro, and had a family of twelve children. namely, Ambrose (third), John D., Frederic W., Freeman A., Noah S., Mary S., David B., Ellen G., Betsey, Jesse S., George A., and Everett W. Eight sons have followed the sea. either permanently or for a time, seven of them becoming master mariners. Freeman A. is now retired, and resides in Wellfleet. Noah is in the fish business at Waterbury, Conn. ;

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and Jesse is similarly engaged at Holyoke, Mass. David is no longer living. George is now running a steam lighter in Boston Harbor. Everett was a tailor, and carried on business in Wellfleet until his death. Mary, who is no longer living, was the wife of Jesse Holbrook. Ellen G., who married Nathaniel Dill, of Well- fleet, died in Everett, Mass. Betsey died in infancy. The father died at the age of eighty- six; and the mother, now in her eighty-seventh year, still lives on the old homestead.

Frederick Walston Snow, in his boyhood and youth from the time he was ten years old, attended school winters, and went fishing sum- mers. The last-named industry he has contin- ued up to the present time, a period of fifty-two years. Before giving his entire attention to fishing, he taught in the public schools of Wellfleet for three years and in a private school for one year. He has not missed a voy- age for fifty summers. For twenty-one years he owned and commanded the schooner "Mer- rimac," which was lost in the Gulf of St. Lawrence after he had disposed of her; and for the past sixteen years he has been master of the schooner "Pleiades."

For his first wife Captain Snow married Eunice C. Oliver, who died about a year after marriage, and whose only child died in in- fancy. He married for his second wife Ade- line Higgins, daughter of Deacon Thomas Iliggins, of Wellfleet. The children of this union are: Addie W., Eunice O., Celia S., Christabel, Frederie A., David B., and Roland. Eunice is the wife of Frederick A. Higgins, and has three children. Celia S., who is a graduate of the State Normal School at Bridge- water, has taught school for a number of years, and is now principal of the new primary school which has just been completed in Whitman, Mass. Frederic A. graduated from the Well- tleet Iligh School, and went to sea with his tather for some years, and later was employed by the American Net and Twine Company, of Boston, with whom he worked until Christmas, (Sg9, when he returned home sick and was unable to return to his business. He died AApril 6, 1900, at the early age of twenty-four Years, five months. David B., who is also a graduate of the high school, accompanies his

father upon his summer voyages. Roland, who is attending school, has already made sev- eral summer trips to the fishing-grounds. Addie and Christabel are residing at home.

In politics Captain Snow is a Republican. He is a member of the Congregational church and superintendent of the Sunday-school.

RANK GERRY NEWHALL, cashier of the National Market Bank of Brigh- ton and one of the honored residents of the Brighton district, came to this place in 1871 from Lynn, Mass., where he was born on July 24, 1848. He is a son of Elbridge G. and Adeline (Marshall) Newhall, the for- mer a native of Peabody, Mass., and the latter of Tewksbury. His father was for a time a prominent shoe manufacturer of Lynn, but he subsequently drifted into agricultural pur- suits, and was engaged more or less in farm- ing up to the time of his death, which oc- curred December 26, 1863, in Peabody, Mass.

Mr. Newhall's parents remained in Lynn until he was about four years old, when they removed to l'eabody, in which town his school days and young manhood were spent. When about seventeen years old he began working as clerk in the dry-goods store of William Chase & Co., of Lynn, and after remaining with that firm for four years he came to Brighton, this being in 1871. Here he was chosen to the position of book-keeper in the National Market Bank. In recognition of his faithfulness and ability, in 1875, during the absence of the cashier from sickness, he was appointed acting cashier of the bank; and in February, 1878, he became cashier, being probably the youngest man to hold such a po- sition in Boston.

Mr. Newhall is also a member of the firm of Brock, Newhall & Fiske, insurance agents of Brighton, who carry on a large business in the insurance field. His religious associa- tions are with the Evangelical Congregational church, of which he is a member. Frater- nally, he is connected with Bethesda Lodge. F. & A. M. In politics he is a Republican. and his party regard him as one of the strong leaders in the district.

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Mr. Newhall married for his first wife, in October, 1875, Emma F. Brewer. She was the mother of two children, of whom one, Harry K., born August 7, 1879, is living. For his second wife he married Abbie M. Mann. By this marriage there is one daugh- ter, Blanche A., born July 4, 1885. Mr. Newhall is not only a business man, but is a citizen of public spirit, and his fellow-towns- people know that any movement for the public good is sure to find in him a ready supporter.

TIRAM CUSHMAN, for over fifty years proprietor of Cushman & Co.'s Brighton and Boston Express, was born in Waterford, Vt., June 14, 1821, son of John and Alice (Holbrook) Cush- man. He was of English ancestry and a de- scendant in the ninth generation of Robert Cushman, who arrived in New England on the ship "Fortune " in November, 1621, with his son Thomas, and a few weeks later, leaving his son in care of Governor Bradford, returned to England. This is the line: Robert, 1 Thomas,2 Thomas, 3 Robert, + Joshua, 5 Soule, 6 John, 7 Hiram. 8 (See Cushman Genealogy, published in 1855.)

Thomas Cushman, son of Robert, was or- dained Ruling Elder of the church at Plym- outh, to succeed Elder Brewster, April 6, 1649, and "was near forty-three years in his office." He died December 11, 1691. near the end of the eighty-fourth year of his life. The records say, "Much of God's presence went away from the church when this blessed pillar was removed." He married about 1635 or 1636 Mary Allerton, who came over in the "Mayflower " in 1620, being a daughter of Mr. Isaac Allerton, the fifth signer of the "Compact." The younger Thomas Cushman, son of Elder Thomas and his wife, Mary, mar- ried Ruth Howland, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland, who both came in the "Mayflower," and landed on Plymouth Rock. Joshua 5 Cushman, son of Robert + and his wife, Persis, married first, in 1733, Mary Soule, daughter of Josiah Soule, of Duxbury. Her father was a grandson of George Soule, another "Mayflower " pilgrim. Soule Cush-

man, fifth child of Joshua and his wife, Mary, was born in 1749. He settled in New Bed- ford, but about 1791 removed to Littleton. N. H. He was twice married. His sixth child by his second wife, Thankful Delano. was John, above named, whose birth took place on August 23, 1787. John Cushman was en- gaged in agricultural pursuits in Vermont dur- ing his active years, first in Waterford an: afterward in St. Johnsbury. The last few months of his life were spent with his son Hiram in Brighton, where his death occurred February 14, 1866. His wife, Alice Holbrook Cushman, was a native of Hartland, Vt. She was born July 30, 1791, and died April 6, 1878.

Hiram Cushman was educated in the com- mon schools of his native town. He reside at home, assisting his father in farming, until 1842, when he came to Brighton, then noted for its famous cattle fair and market, and fur the past twenty-seven years included within the precincts of Boston. Here he located per- manently, and for the ensuing five years was employed in Brighton and the adjoining town of Brookline. In 1848 he commenced running an express to Boston, and finally firmly estab- lished the Brighton and Boston Express, which he carried on alone for thirty-four years and ic: eighteen years with his son Benjamin, under the firm name of Cushman & Co. Mr. Cush- man was engaged in business up to the time ci the accident of recent occurrence, a fall from his wagon, which caused his death two days later, May 9, 1900. His funeral services were largely attended, and many beautiful fora! tributes testified to the esteem in which he was held.

Mr. Cushman's activity in all measures cal- culated to develop the resources of Brighton and otherwise advance its interests, proved ex- ceedingly valuable in securing the substantia: prosperity now enjoyed by that district, and be was deservedly held in high estimation by the comtnunity of which he was so long a leading resident. In politics he supported the Demo- cratic party. He attended the Unitarian church.

On May 9, 1848, Mr. Cushman married Miss Sarah Jane Henderson, of St. George. Me. She was born January 7, 1827, and dic:

JOSHUA THANTER.

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November 9, 1891, her loss being sincerely regretted by a large circle of friends and ac- quaintances. Mr. Cushman is survived by two son .: Zachary Taylor, of Boston, born June 22, IS49; and Benjamin Franklin, born Oc- tober 24, 1863. Zachary T. Cushman married 1:stella Eldredge in 1877; and they have one child living, Grace Marion, born March 1, 1882. Benjamin Franklin Cushman married Dora Wells; and they have one child, Iliram Norton, born January 3, 1888.

OSHUA THAXTER, who for more than fifty years has been engaged in leather- case manufacture in Boston, was born in this city, November 8, 1819, son of Seth and Margaret (Bennet) Thaxter. He comes of long lines of Colonial ancestry, being a representative of the seventh generation of the family founded by Thomas Thaxter, who received the grant of a house lot at llingham, Mass., in 1638, and whose descendants shortly became allied with the Lincolns, the Beals, the Cushings, and other early settled families of that ancient town, also with the Pilgrim stock. The Thaxter line is : Thomas, ' Samuel, 2 David, 3 David, + Jacob,5 Seth,6 Joshua.7. (See History of Hingham, Genealogical part. )

Samuel Thaxter, son of Thomas, married Abigail Church, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth (Warren) Church and grand-daugh- ter of Richard Warren, who came in the "May- flower" in 1620. David Thaxter, son of Samuel and Abigail, married Alice, daughter of John and Martha (Beal) Chubbuck. Their son, David, Jr., born July 19, 1709, in Hing- ham, married Deborah Lincoln, daughter of Samuel and Ruth (Cushing) Lincoln. His children were: David; Jonathan; Martha, who married Benjamin Beal, Jr. ; Jacob; Deborah, wife of James Todd; Seth ; Laban ; and Daniel. Jacob Thaxter, third son of David, Jr., and Deborah, and grandfather of Joshua, the sub- ject of this sketch, was born at Hingham, January 18, 1746-7. He married October 9, 1775, Rachel Lincoln, daughter of Enoch and Rachel (Fearing) Lincoln and sister of Lieutenant Governor Levi Lincoln, Sr. Her father, Enoch Lincoln, was a son of Jedediah

and Bethia (Whiton) Lincoln, grandson of Samuel, Jr., and Deborah (Hersey) Lincoln, and great-grandson of Samuel Lincoln, weaver, who settled at Hingham in 1637.

President Lincoln is said to have belonged to this branch of the family in New England, his descent being through Mordecai,2 son of Samuel,' the weaver, and brother of Samuel, Jr. ; Mordecai,3 who migrated from Hingham to New Jersey and thence to Pennsylvania ; John,4 who removed to Virginia ; Abraham, 5 who settled in Kentucky, and was the father of Thomas 6 and grandfather of Abraham Lin- coln, President of the United States during the Civil War. (Hingham History, Gene-

alogical. )

Jacob Thaxter died in 1816. His wife, Rachel, died December 4, 1836, aged eighty- five years. Their children were: Jacob, a painter, who married Mary Groves and lived in Boston; Seth, born April 15, 1780, who died in Boston, September 9, 1855; Warren, a cabinet-maker by trade, who married Nancy Sawyer, and died in Boston in 1840; Rachel, who married a Mr. Jenkins, of Scituate; Perez, who married Mary Ann Bennet in 18og, and died in Boston in 1813; and Anne, who died in infancy.

Seth Thaxter learned the carpenter's trade in early life, beginning when a mere boy. Subsequently he engaged in the surveying of lumber, and followed that occupation for a number of years in Boston. He was offered the position of Surveyor-general, which, how- ever, he declined to accept. In politics he was an old-time Whig, and he and his family attended the Congregational church. He was married at the age of twenty-one years to Margaret Bennet, daughter of Perez Bennet, who lived on Atkinson Street, Boston. Twelve children were horn of this union. Two of these, cach named Angilesa, died in infancy, and ten grew to maturity, namely : Ellen S., now deceased; William Vinal, who died as the result of an accident when over sixty years of age; Edward, who died when about sixty years old; Margaret, who was the wife of Mr. Joseph Borrowscale, and died in 1895 ; Joshua, the subject of this sketch; James, a resident of Framingham, Mass. ; Eben Blanchard, who

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died when over sixty years of age; Ann Ben- nett, who survives her husband, Warren B. Chase, and is now a resident of Dorchester; and Franklin, who died when about sixty years old. The mother, Mrs. Margaret Bennet Thaxter, died at the age of seventy-three years.

Joshua Thaxter received his education in the Boston public schools. After completing his studies he applied himself to learn the trade of pocket-book and case making, serving an ap- prenticeship of seven years, as was then cus- tomary. Subsequently he followed his trade for some time as a journeyman in Boston. Ile then went to Lowell, where for a short time he conducted a store devoted to the sale of period- icals, etc. Returning to Boston, he resumed his trade, and established himself in business as a manufacturer of leather cases, pocket- books, and similar goods, and has continued thus engaged up to the present time, having now the oldest establishment of the kind in the city. He is a trustee of the Grove Hall Universalist church and a member of the Universalist Social Union. Politically, he is a Republican.

Mr. Thaxter was married December 24, 1844, to Miss Caroline Jenkins, daughter of Gera and Rachel (Thaxter) Jenkins and a na- tive of Boston, born in 1821. Her father was of the Scituate family of that name. After nearly half a century of happy wedded life Mrs. Thaxter died on October 26, 1894. She was much esteemed as a woman of many fine traits of character, and her loss was much felt by her husband and her many friends. The only child of Mr. and Mrs. Thaxter, a son, Joshua Bennett Thaxter, died in Boston at the age of thirty-one years.

R EV. SAMUEL HOBART WINK- LEY, A. M .- About the year 1680 Samuel and Nicholas Winckly left their home in Clitheroe, Lanca- shire, England, and settled in Portsmouth, N. H. Samuel had held the office of Justice of the Peace in England. Nicholas died soon after their arrival here. All the Wink- leys in this country are descended from Sam- uel Winekly, Esq. Ile engaged in trade and

commerce. In April, 1707, the sloop "Sarah and Hannah," Captain Samuel Winekly com- mander, was impressed to transport soldiers to Port Royal. Ile received one hundred acres of land in Berwick, Me., in gratitude for his services in leading a company to the relief of prisoners from the Indians of Winne- pesaukee. His son, Captain Francis Winekly, was aide-de-camp to General Sir William Pep- perell (Kittery) at the taking of Louisburg, June 17, 1745. His son Samuel married Mary Brewster, a direct descendant of the "Mayflower " Brewsters. Francis, the grand- son of Captain Francis, was a soldier in the Revolution. His son, Captain John, the father of this sketch, commanded the priva- teer " Fox" in the War of 1812. He married Jane Stevens Hobart, grand-daughter of Sam- uel Hobart, of Exeter, N. H., a distinguished patriot, soldier, and statesman.

The Rev. Samuel Hobart Winkley, third son of Captain John and Jane Stevens (Hobart) Winkley, was born in Portsmouth, N. H., April 5, 1819. He remained at home until his fifteenth year, having the ordinary experi- ence of a boy, excepting in religious matters, in which he became distinctly interested as early as his eighth year.

His religious home was the North (Ortho- dox) Church, where he endeavored to accept the almost universal belief of the denomina- tion at that time, that a conversion, to be sound, must, if not instantaneous, be at least conscious. To aid him to this conversion, he attended not only the usual public services, the Sabbath-school, and devotional meetings, but also the special weekly meetings for in- quirers. In his fourteenth year, during a re- ligious revival in his native town, he decided that this peculiar form of conversion was not for him. He therefore distinctly consecrated himself to the worship of God and the love of his children, and was welcomed to the church.

In his fifteenth year he went to Boston, where he was at first employed in a retail store and later as salesman in a wholesale dry- goods store, in connection with which he spent the few following years in Providence, R. I., and Portland, Me. He then returned to Boston, entering another dry-goods store, and

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at the age of twenty-one was by this firm "set up," according to the technical phrase, in business for himself in Providence. About the year 1838 his theological views underwent a radical change. He did not, however, sever his connection at once with the Orthodox church, although working for the establish- ment of the first ministry at large ( Unita- rian). His interest and devotion to religious work led many of his friends to urge his prep- aration for the ministry. To this he con- sented, entering Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, in his twenty-third year. Upon his graduation, four years later, he was in- vited to take charge of the Pitts Street Chapel, Boston, one of the two chapels dedi- cated to the Ministry at Large under the su- pervision of the Benevolent Fraternity of Churches.

Mr. Winkley's life work is so identified with the Ministry at Large in Boston that a brief notice of this institution seems to be necessary in connection with his biography.

To any one acquainted only with the pres- ent population and condition of the North End in Boston it would be difficult to realize that in the first quarter of the nineteenth century there were, among many other relig- ious societies in that section, two flourishing Unitarian churches on Hanover Street - the New North, under the pastorate of the Rev. Dr. Parkman, and the Second Church, whose minister was the sainted Henry Ware, Jr. Under his administration there came into existence an association of young men whose members breathed the very spirit of the Mas- ter. Their object was the development of the Christian life in themselves and the diffusion among the unchurched of that Christianity which the members found so valuable in their own experience. To accomplish the last of these objects the association determined to have sermons preached on Sunday evenings at the houses of the poor in different parts of the city. The first of these sermons was preached by the Rev. Henry Ware, Jr., on Sunday evening, November 24, 1822.

The association had been in operation four years when the Rev. Dr. Tuckerman, a friend of the poor and for twenty-five years a faithful

minister in Chelsea, consented to devote him- self to this work of the ministry to the poor in the city of Boston. An upper unfinished room at the corner of Merrimac and Portland Streets was procured for Dr. Tuckerman in which to preach; and here on December 2, 1826, was held the service which commenced the permanent Ministry at Large in the city of Boston. Evening services only were held in that upper chamber for ten months; and on November 10 the first service was held in a new chapel erected in Chapel Place, Friend Street, threugh the exertions of the Young Men's Association. This chapel was known as Friend Street Chapel. Dr. Tuckerman's salary was paid by the American Unitarian Association. His health being poor, a col- league was appointed, the Rev. C. F. Barnard. who entered upon his labors in 1832; and one year later the Rev. F. T. Gray was also ap- pointed to the work. Mr. Gray introduced

regular Sunday services for adults, these ser- vices heretofore having been confined to chil- dren, while those for adults had been held only in the evening. In May, 1834, the Uni- tarian churches of Boston formed the associa- tion known as the Benevolent Fraternity of Churches, whose object was the support of the chapels and ministers connected with the Ministry at Large in Boston.

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Biographical sketches of representative citizens of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, 1901, Part 12

Author: Publication date: 1901 Publisher: Boston, Graves & Steinbarger Number of Pages: 924

Author:
Publication date: 1901
Publisher: Boston, Graves & Steinbarger
Number of Pages: 924